Maple Mars
Circular Haze

(Kool Kat)

koolkatmusik.com

When you're a teenager, you might not be looking for rock music to teach you about politics or to aid you in really understanding your inner psyche. Instead, you're looking for music that, as Pete Townshend once said, can let you dance all over your problems. And other times, you want rock music to be a roller coaster ride, to be like Star Wars, to have a high 'wow' factor. Rick Hromadka is still in touch with how much fun that 'wow' factor can be. On this second Maple Mars record, he and his bandmates make the studio a gigantic canvas, and they layer on guitars, backing vocals and keyboards in equal measure with the numerous catchy bits. While Hromadka's melodic mojo is in no way Lynne-like, the expanse of this music reminds me of prime Electric Light Orchestra, circa 1976-78. This is retrofuturistic guitar rock.

Adding to this atmosphere are some songs with a sci-fi/fantasy vibe. Don't worry, it's not Star Trek/D & D geekery. It's just pure fun. There's a new version of the debut album's "Silver Spy Satellite", which wins major ELO points with the faux Harrison slide guitar, while the melody bends and drawls in the verses, compacting on the chorus into a tight package. Maple Mars layers on the guitars and throws in a nifty middle-eight twist after the second chorus, which comes after the nifty 'bop-bop' harmony vocals and before the spacey instrumental break, where more creamy choral vocals soar over some fine rhythm section work by Scott Halper (bass) and Mike Fletcher (drums). This is better than the fine original version.

And how can you miss with a track called "First Chick in Space"? Well,
some bands could screw it up, but not Maple Mars. The song is a swaying sing-song singalong, using one of those broad melodies that has served everyone from Slade and Mott The Hoople to E'Nuff Z'Nuff and Oasis -- blowing up pop to arena size proportions.

My favorite song might be "Imaginary Walk of Fame". It's a slow number and Hromadka's voice takes on a nasal tone that is reminiscent of Robin Zander channeling John Lennon (like on Cheap Trick's classic "World's Greatest Lover"). The song is enveloped in acoustic guitars, with melancholy lead guitar figures in the background, creating a chillbump atmosphere. While Hrodmadka's wordsmithing is pretty basic and borders on cliche, he effectively communicates the bittersweet struggles of trying to make music in the traditions of the greats, though there might not be much reward: "Your heroes showed you the way/but not the price you would pay/how could they lead so far astray/now there's nothing left to say." Touching stuff."Undiscovered" packs a similar wistful punch in a more propulsive package. The track's foundation is piano part that could have come from an early-'70s Todd Rundgren record. The song pumps away, as the back and forth rhythm of the piano part is contrasted by the constant ebb-and-flow wave of the melody. The song elevates, but never quite explodes into an epiphany, which is appropriate for it's realistic take on the difficulty of ever grabbing the brass ring. The joy of the music is almost like medicine for the hard knocks that Hromadka sings about.

As both "Undiscovered" and "Imaginary Walk of Fame" and some other
mid-tempo tunes on the disc demonstrate, for all of that 'wow' factor I
gushed about earlier, there is a big heart beating underneath the gloss.
Some of these songs can hit you in both the gut and the pleasure center. What does this mean? Not that Maple Mars is going to replace Dylan or anything, but that they have broken through the pop wall that leads to style for style's sake and make music that you escape with, yet also find feeling and meaning. Having survived the demise of their first record label and soldiered on in fine fashion, I have to be optimistic that Maple Mars may still be making their ascent towards their peak.

Mike Bennett